Game Changer: Romney Did Not Win Iowa

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney apparently did not win the Iowa caucuses after all. Former Sen. Rick Santorum — who trailed by a mere 8 votes in the initial tally — actually beat Romney by 34 votes, according to the certified vote totals.

The Des Moines Register broke the story at 7 a.m. Thursday, a few hours before the Iowa Republican Party planned to release the final numbers.

But — in another twist — the final numbers are not reliable, because eight Iowa precincts could not have their totals certified, the Register reported. A Republican party official told the newspaper, “It’s a split decision.”

The certified numbers are as follows: Rick Santorum ended up with 29,839 votes — 168 fewer than the 30,007 he had on caucus night. Romney ended up with 29,805 votes — 210 fewer than the 30,015 initially posted after the balloting.